“No northern politician should expect to be voted for in the next general elections unless they demonstrate a willingness to champion a massive assault on poverty and underdevelopment in the North.”
No fewer than 18 northern groups, including the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) stated this on Saturday as they passed a vote of no confidence in norther politicians in communiques issued after a meeting in Kaduna.
They said the politicians have failed to address the problems of security and poverty ravaging the region.
“Most political office holders from the north are hereby served a notice that they have failed the test to lead the region towards economic recovery and growth,” the group said.
Prof. Ango Abdullahi, who convened the summit, said the headhunt for a credible presidential candidate to replace President Muhammdu Buhari has begun.
Read by Hakeem Baba-Ahned, the Chief of Staff to Senate president, the communique stated that since 2015, northerners have occupied positions with the potential to make impact on the fortunes of the neglected north.
“The hopes that leaders who have been in power since 2015 will reverse the abuse and neglect of the region in the previous decade have been betrayed.”
The summit identified weak governance, gross insensitivity and unacceptable levels of incompetence, and battles of attrition in which northerners have sapped one another’s strength.
It also highlighted failure of the politicians in articulating the region]s stance in key national issues.
“Weak and incoherent responses to provocations from other parts of the country around the imperatives of re-visiting the foundations and structures of the Nigerian state have created the false image of a North without its own positions beyond survival as the parasite of Nigeria,” the communique added.
Other points raised include the Boko Haram insurgency politicised in the north, suspicion, waste of political capital that brought President Muhammadu Buhari to office in 2015, and exploitation by leaders as 2019 approaches.
The groups then issued a verdict.
“Most political office holders from the north are hereby served a notice that they have failed the test to lead the region towards economic recovery and growth.”
In that light, the communiques stated what the selection process for 2019 will look like.
“The leadership selection process must be critically interrogated to present the best leader to Nigeria as a whole. No one should take the north for granted, and it is not for sale.
Prof. Abdullahi had earlier said the Nnrth is already scouting for credible leaders at all level and arms of government ahead of the 2019 elections.
The signatories to the communique included Prof. Ango Abdullahi (Chairman ACF Political Committee/Convener, Northern Elders Forum); Dr. Yima Sen (NEF); Amb. Ibrahim Mai Sule (ACF); Bello Suleiman (CODE Group); Mataimaki Maiyashi, (Arewa Research Development Project); Zannah Boguma (Borno Elders Forum); Nafiu Baba-Ahmed (Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria), and Dr. Ibrahim Yakubu Lame (Northern Union).
Others were Alhaji Yerima Shettima (Arewa Youth Consultative Forum; Pastor Aminchi Habu (United Christian Leaders Eagle Eye Forum); Balarabe Rufai (Coalition of Northern Groups); Isa Tijjani Labour (Veterans Association); Rev. Bitrus Dangiwa (CAN Northern Chapter); Umar Ahmed (Zaria Jama’atu Nasiril Islam); and Buba Adamah (Arewa People Unity Association); Hassan El-Adamu (Arewa Initiative For Good Governance); Abdulazeez Suleiman (Northern Emancipation Network) and Bilkisu Oniyangi (Arewa Initiative for Good Governance).
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